Madison College announces new South Campus location

Goodman and American Family Insurance foundations to fund Phase One of two-phase initiative

Summary

American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, Inc. makes its largest single gift to-date, donating $1.3 million to the South Campus project.

Officials from Madison College revealed the location of their new South Madison campus at a news conference today. After a search of nearly one year, facilities planners for the college say the site currently occupied by the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds at the intersection of Badger Road and Park Street best suits the needs for serving students and the South Madison community.

The first phase includes the purchase of property, redevelopment of property to include spaces for learning and student support, and the availability of space for community activities. This facility will also include instructional programs in STEM- and IT-related fields that will be accessible to high school juniors and seniors, in particular those in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The second phase of the development will consist of an expansion of the facility to include enhanced services, additional classrooms and community space.

When it is completed in 2019, the college’s new south side campus “will allow us to join forces with our community partners to address significant racial, economic and educational disparities that exist on the south side and stimulate economic development in this part of the city,” said Madison College President Jack Daniels.

“Madison College’s South Campus Initiative will address, head on, vast racial disparities that exist on the South Side,” Daniels said, “and provide access to higher education for individuals who have been historically marginalized but are capable of completing college if they only had the chance.”

Daniels noted that residents of Madison are consistently ranked among the most educated in the nation. The city is ranked the fifth most highly-educated in the U.S. by the New York Times. In contrast, 57.8 percent* of the residents of Madison’s South Side – far more than half the population – do not have a college credential. Nearly 15 percent do not hold a high school diploma.

“This disparity is not acceptable,” Daniels said. “The South Campus Initiative is not only our opportunity to change that, it is our obligation.”

Jennifer Cheatham, superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District, also shared details of a partnership that will allow high school students enrolled in the MMSD to complete STEM-related coursework at the South Campus and earn college credits. The intent of the early college STEM academy is to create a transition option that prepares high school students for a smooth transition to college and career.

The Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman Foundation will contribute $10 million and the American Family Insurance Dreams foundation will award $1.3 million to fund Phase One of the South Campus Initiative. The gifts represent the largest ever awarded by each of the Madison-based foundations.

Funds are in place for the first phase of the new South Campus, and the college will seek additional funding to complete Phase Two, which will consist of an expansion of the complex to include enhanced services, additional classrooms and community space.

Through seven listening sessions with more than 120 South Side community members and leaders of faith- and community-based organizations, Daniels said a recurring theme emerged: The need for a central meeting place, whether or not the residents there are students at Madison College. “The need has been presented. Now it is time for Madison College, and our community, to address it.”

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*Source: Madison College Dept. of Institutional Research and Effectiveness